"Elite" HIV wife may hold secret to AIDS vaccineReutersposted: 14 HOURS 21 MINUTES AGOcomments: 72PrintShareText SizeAAAWASHINGTON (Aug. 11) - A woman who has never shown symptoms of infection with the AIDS virus may hold the secret to defeating the virus, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday.Infected at least 10 years ago by her husband, the woman is able somehow to naturally control the deadly and incurable virus -- even though her husband must take cocktails of strong HIV drugs to control his.She is a so-called "elite suppressor," and studies of her immune cells have begun to offer clues to how her body does it, the team at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore said."This is the best evidence to date that elite suppressors can have fully pathogenic virus," said Dr. Joel Blankson, who led the study."The feeling was initially that they had defective virus," Blankson added in a telephone interview.But the couple has been monogamous for at least 17 years, Blankson said, and tests show they are infected with the same strain of virus. What is different is the immune system of the wife, who cannot be named for privacy reasons."That's a good sign in terms of developing a therapeutic vaccine," Blankson said. Such a vaccine would not prevent infection but might be used to treat patients.The AIDS virus infects at least 33 million people globally and more than a million in the United States. It has killed 25 million people since it was identified in the early 1980s.New figures show 56,000 people are infected every year in the United states, mostly gay and bisexual men but also injecting drug users and their sexual partners, both male and female, as well as newborns and recipients of contaminated blood transfusions.STALLING REPLICATIONBoth the man and the woman, who are from Baltimore, were diagnosed 10 years ago, Blankson said. The husband is a former injecting drug user.Tests showed that immune cells known as CD8 T-cells from the wife stalled HIV replication by as much as 90 percent, while the husband's T-cells stopped it by only 30 percent, Blankson's team reported in the Journal of Virology.Her virus has also mutated in apparent response to this immune attack, becoming weaker, while her husband's virus has remained strong."Elite suppression offers clues to vaccine researchers on many fronts: how CD8 killer T-cells can attack HIV and how a stronger immune response can force HIV into a permanent defensive state," Blankson said."We are trying to figure out exactly how the T-cells work in her to inhibit viral replication," he added. "We are just trying to see what kind of cytokines they make."Cytokines are immune system signaling proteins. One thing the researchers have noticed is that while the husband's T-cells make just one, called gamma interferon, hers made both that one and another called TNF, or tumor necrosis factor.That cannot be the whole story, though, because AIDS researchers have tried using such immune system proteins in patients and they did not work well.And her immune cells seem to make the response only when they encounter the virus.Another clue: the woman may have unusual activity in her human leukocyte antigen system, or HLA, Blankson said. This important component of the immune system helps recognize antigens -- protein identifiers -- of enemies such as

Back in the '80s it could take upto 10 to 15 years for a med to move from clinical trails into the main stream. Today if the meds prove themselves in clinical trails, they are rushed to the people who need them. Due to this change, for the last 10 years we have benefited from the numerous meds that have been developed.

The only thing about the new system, that makes everyone who takes these meds, guinipigs. A double edge sword. As the years pass, they are finding that there are troubling side effects. However, it is worth it because it helps all of us.

Faster? I remember when our government would not even recognize HIV/AIDS as an infection. So there was no research. That was only 20 years ago. Great strides have been made.

My advise, be patient. I know it can be tough, but as someone who has known for half my life, time can be on our side if we take care of ourselves.

is this the same concept of the stem cell transplants taken from an elite supressor? i read an article in poz about an hiv poz man who had a stem cell transplant because of another problem (from one of these individuals) an now his virus is supressed w/o meds, but of course it is a costly process, and he must take meds for the rest of his life anyhow (not hiv meds).

my girlfriend gave me hiv and new she had it for the whole 10 years that we were together. I one day was tested due to symptoms and found out I had it. She apologized saying that she did not think she could pass it to me because she thought she was born with it. Whatever that means. She was obviously in denial due to the fact that she never even took meds until I was diagnosed and now we both take meds and we are both healthy. The weird thing is that she supposedly was diagnosed at 18 years old having a cd count of 230. 12 years later she was tested again after I came up positive and her count was 250. That makes no sense to me. I ended up forgiving her and we are living happy lives, but my mom has some hard feelings towards her due to the fact that she new she had it all these years and never disclosed it putting my life in danger. My count was lower than hers when we tested and I had 2 times the viral load. So the whold story does not add up, but according to her its true. My doc says, who cares who gave it to who, as long as we are happy now. Does she love me to put me at risk all these years? Or was she in denial? What do you guys think of this story. On the plus side, the hiv tought us to live healthier lives overall and we work out constantly. So having hiv definitely has its plus side.thanks

I am amazed that your girlfriends cd4 has been in the 200's for 12 years, that just sounds wierd, she doesn't seem to be a LTNP because the virus has obviously progressed yet she has gone this long without medication, my first question would be have you got firm evidence that she has had HIV 12 years, did she just tell you this ?

My CD8 count was 1500 for years after my infection and I didn't get an AIDS defining condition until nineteen years after my HIV diagnosis. My CD8 count even now is 800.

There may be something in this research. Years ago, AIDS was diagnosed when the CD4 to CD8 ratio switched whcih meant that there was more CD8 than CD4.

I think we are years from a cure. The polio virus has never been fully eliminated from infected persons bodies despite a vaccine. The virus is suppressed so that disease does not result but it has been found to have long term effects even suppressed.

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